t the end of play on May 20, the Red Sox were in fourth place in the Eastern Division of the American League, 4½ games behind the first place Baltimore Orioles. The Sox, with a record of 21 wins and 21 losses, were four games behind the second place New York Yankees and one half game behind the third place Tampa Bay Rays.

At the end of play on August 23, two months and three days later, the Red Sox were in first place, 4 ½ games ahead of the second place Yankees, 11 1/2 games ahead of the third place Orioles and 12 games ahead of the fourth place Rays. They had won 52 and lost 32 since May 20, a winning percentage of .619, the highest win/loss percentage in the American League for that period. 

Many things changed in that period. The trading deadline came and went and many teams including the second place Yankees have made major moves to strengthen their rosters.  

The Red Sox, finally, unloaded Pablo Sandoval but were unable to get slugging third baseman Todd Frazier from the White Sox to fill their third base hole. This proved to be a blessing in disguise because they took the opportunity to bring up Rafael Devers, a third baseman from their own organization to fill that spot and also to pick up the versatile Eduardo Nunez to add to their infield depth.  

Devers, as I am sure all Red Sox fans know, hit .312 with eight homers and 16 RBI’s since coming up in his first 23 games while Frazier had just five homers and 15 RBI’s to go with an anemic .240 batting average in 31 games as a Yankee. And, as for Nunez, Tuesday night’s five RBI’s, on a double and a homer, and two more RBI’s on another homer and a single on Wednesday night, to give him a .337 average, six homers and 20 total RBI’s speaks for itself.  

The biggest contributor to the success of the Red Sox over that period was the starting rotation. With David Price still among the missing, except for a brief period, the current starting rotation of Chris Sale, Drew Pomeranz, Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez and Doug Fister has been the backbone of the team. In that period, those five starters, and remember Rodriguez missed several games with injuries and Fister did not join the team until June 24, those pitchers won 31 and lost 18, a .633 win/loss percentage. They had a combined ERA of 3.66, giving up 171 earned runs in 420 2/3 innings.

Sale, who is now 14-5 and, with some run support, could easily be 17-2, won 10 and lost 3 in that period, with a 2.87 ERA and 155 of his league leading 250 strikeouts, in 110 innings, in his 16 starts. Even Mike Trout will have a hard time beating Sale out for MVP if he continues the way he has been pitching.  

Pomeranz, who had been an underachiever since coming over to the Sox, was 10-1 in that period in 17 starts. He had an ERA of 2.47, giving up only 27 earned runs in 98.1 innings while striking out 100.

Porcello won six and lost nine in that period but has won his last four starts.  He had an ERA of 4.61, striking out 91 in 109 innings, while averaging 6 ½ innings per start.  

Rodriguez started just 10 games in the period, striking out 60 in 57 innings and posting a 4.71 ERA. He is 4-3 for the year with a 4.01 ERA and 107 strikeouts in just 99 innings.

Fister has started just eight games since joining the team in late June and has posted a 4.49 ERA in those starts, while winning three and losing three.  After being released by Houston last November, he was not signed by the Los Angeles Angels until May 20 of this year and, as late as June 22 was at Salt Lake City in the AAA Pacific Coast League. Since July 25, he is 3-1 in four starts, including the one hitter against Cleveland on Tuesday night.

It is interesting to note that this starting rotation does not contain a single pitcher that was drafted by or came up in the Red Sox organization.  

Sale, 28, was originally drafted by the Colorado Rockies in 2007 and didn’t sign. He was drafted and signed by the Chicago White Sox in 2010 and won 79 and lost 50, from 2010-2016, before the Red Sox signed him as a Free Agent in 2016.   

Pomeranz, 28, was drafted by the Texas Rangers in 2007 and by the Cleveland Indians in 2010. He was traded to the Colorado Rockies in 2011 and pitched with the Rockies, Athletics and Padres before being traded to the Red Sox in July of 2016 for Anderson Espinosa.

Porcello, 28, was drafted by the Detroit Tigers and was 76-63 in six years with them before being signed as a free agent by the Sox last year.

Rodriguez, 24, was signed as an amateur free agent by the Baltimore Orioles in 2010 and traded to the Sox for Andrew Miller in 2014.

Fister, 33, was drafted three times, by the San Francisco Giants in 2003, the New York Yankees in 2005 and the Seattle Mariners, with whom he signed, in 2006. He was traded to the Tigers in 2013 and signed as a free agent by Houston in 2016 and signed as a free agent with the Angels this year before the Red Sox picked him up on waivers. He had a 77-76 career record when the Sox got him.

Of course, David Price may be available before the season is over or for the playoffs, but this five may be all the Red Sox need. If Price should come back and replace Fister in the rotation, that would give them four left handers, not necessarily a healthy situation to be in a league dominated by right handed hitters.  

There has been lots of talk about the Red Sox needing another starter but, barring injury, this five has the ability to take the Sox deep into the playoffs.

— Carl Johnson lives in Sanford and writes a weekly baseball column for the Journal Tribune Sunday. Contact him at baseballworldbjt@yahoo.com and check out his blog at baseballworldbjt.com.